YPSILANTI — It had the makings of a dangerous road game, one that Western Michigan University’s men’s basketball team, based on its season of work, shouldn’t be trusted to win — at in-state rival Eastern Michigan, this time playing with its senior star, on a court the Eagles have challenged teams on par with the Broncos.

Perhaps after the last month, a bit more should be expected of this emerging WMU squad.

Playing like a team sensing the eve of March, the Broncos dismantled Eastern Michigan, 87-60, Sunday afternoon in Ypsilanti, winning for the seventh time in nine games over the last 30 days.

After taking a modest 13-10 lead, WMU outscored EMU 31-10 over the final 12 minutes of the first half and led by as many as 40 (73-33).

"This is probably as well as we’ve played, 40 minutes anyway, it’s probably as well as we’ve played all year," WMU coach Steve Hawkins said.

"We had a little bit of a bad taste in our mouths after the last 20 minutes we played against Toledo."

Against the Rockets on Wednesday, WMU hung on to win by 12 after opening up a 43-5 lead. Sunday, the Broncos were crisp again offensively, hitting 18 of 31 shots in the first half (58 percent).

The Broncos built their insurmountable edge by owning the low post, junior power forward Flenard Whitfield often on one block and freshman center Matt Stainbrook on the other.

Whitfield scored 10 points — many against EMU star Brandon Bowdry — during a stretch in which WMU extended its lead from 16-10 to 28-12, finishing the first half with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

Stainbrook scored six of his eight first half points while helping WMU move from up 22-12 to ahead 37-18.

"I thought that they worked at a great pace," Hawkins said of Whitfield and Stainbrook. "They kind of took their time, they identified what was going on defensively, they weren’t getting double-teamed. They went to work when they were supposed to."

The two combined for 31 points and 12 rebounds, 16 points from Whitfield and eight rebounds coming from Stainbrook.

Bowdry finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for EMU (8-20, 4-10 MAC), but made only 4 of 19 shots and had only four points in the decisive first half.

"It was one of those things that just spiraled out of control," said Eastern Michigan coach Charles Ramsey, whose team had not lost by double digits at home all season before Sunday. "I’m really disappointed in our seniors. I’m just disappointed. You need someone out there that’s going to take control and kind of show you the way. That did not happen."

The win puts the Broncos at 17-11 overall, 9-5 in the Mid-American Conference, setting up a showdown with Ball State (also 17-11, 9-5) this Wednesday at University Arena with the West Division title on the line.